Alaphilippe, 29, was taken to hospital after a serious fall in an ambulance. He was conscious.
It is not yet clear how serious Alaphilippe’s injuries are. His partner Marion Rousse, commentator at France Télévisions, brought all the reassuring news that Alaphilippe was conscious after the crash. Julian was taken away by ambulance. He can move his legs, but he has a lot of back pain,” Rousse said The last news† Alaphilippes teammate Ilan Van Wilder also did not come out of the crash unscathed and is said to have suffered a fractured jaw.
About thirty riders were involved in the crash, including Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Wilco Kelderman (Bora-hansgrohe), Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) and Frenchman Romain Bardet (Team DSM). The latter was so collegial just after the massive crash to see how compatriot Alaphilippe was doing.
Bardet, who didn’t sustain too much damage from the fall but didn’t make it to the finish, joined in afterwards VeloNews on the incident. He was startled as he pulled Alaphilippe into the ditch. “He couldn’t move and couldn’t breathe,” Bardet said. “He was conscious, but couldn’t really talk. I hope he is okay.”
It was not the first time that Alaphilippe went down hard in a big game. Two years ago he was ahead in the Tour of Flanders with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. One collision with a motorbike forced the Frenchman to give up. Van der Poel won his first ‘Flanders Most Beautiful’. This year Alaphilippe was hit by a big gust of wind blown off the road in Strade Bianche† He finished the race on gravel roads, but could no longer play a significant role. So things went wrong again in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Kelderman did not sustain any fractures from the fall. His team Bora-hansgrohe reported that. Wilco has not suffered any fractures. There are some bruises, while the team doctor applied a few stitches,” the German team reported on Twitter. The damage was not too bad for two other Dutch people involved, Mollema and Van Emden, although both complained of a sore back.
The 31-year-old Kelderman will, if everything goes according to plan, just like Mollema and Van Emden will start in just under two weeks in the Giro d’Italia. In 2020, Kelderman finished third in the final classification of the Italian Grand Tour. Mollema (35) finished fifth in the Giro three years ago. Van Emden (37) won the final time trial of the Tour of Italy in 2017.
View the reactions of Mollema and former winner Wout Poels here:
Giro Cycling Game
• Are you a real Giro connoisseur? Then play along with the Giro Cycling Game! Assemble a team of 20 riders and score points with their position in the standings of a stage. The Giro starts Friday May 6 in Budapest.
Watch all our cycling videos here.